


Lockharst

by StarryEyedAstronaut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Ghosts, Horror, Hospitals, Psychiatric Hospitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 09:59:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17221826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryEyedAstronaut/pseuds/StarryEyedAstronaut
Summary: Finally, he decided to enter the premises. With a trembling hand opened the metal door and before stepping inside, looked back over the dead garden to the little dots of light that could be seen on the distance, a reminder of the civilization he was leaving behind.





	Lockharst

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I wrote for a writing challenge on Voltron Amino quite a few months ago.
> 
> This was mean to be the first part of a longer story but the challenge was never concluded so it's now an oneshot with an open ending and quite a few mysteries unexplored.
> 
> I was listening to Birden by Kanno Youko and Arnor Dan while I was writing this, I recomment to listen to it while reading if it's from your liking, it adds the perfect atmosphere to the story.
> 
> This the longest story I have written on english so far. Sorry if there's some grammar mistakes.
> 
> Thank you for reading.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?"

"I'm only going to take a look at the building, you don't have to worry about it"

Shiro felt like that was the last time he would talk to Keith.

* * *

The sound of hesitant footsteps on the dead grass echoed through the cold wind which made Shiro's skin bristle by the contact. He was rambling nonsense to himself to calm down his anxious mind while he moved through the empty vastness of the garden to the gate.

After the infernal walk, Shiro stood in front of the building, gazing at it in awe. His eyelids felt heavy and for a moment he thought that the place didn't look as old as a minute ago and that the withered rose bushes sitting on the front door were tinted of a beautiful vivid color.

Finally, he decided to enter the premises. With a trembling hand opened the metal door and before stepping inside, looked back over the dead garden to the little dots of light that could be seen on the distance, a reminder of the civilization he was leaving behind.

Once he entered, he felt a shudder traveling through his spine. He looked in the darkness motionless until he took out the flashlight from his backpack. When the light illuminated the place a little, the gate closed behind him with a loud noise that made him jump. He tried to force the knob and pushed the door with the weight of his body but he had no success in open it again.

"Quiznak" He muttered in resignation while he gave a final hit to the door with his cyborg fist.

He checked his surroundings in search of an exit but strangely, despite being the lobby of the hospital, there were no doors and the windows nearby were barred. Something caught his sight, at one of the walls there was a sign made of rotting wood, in it could be seen the word "Infirmary" and alongside it an arrow pointing to the right

Shiro followed the arrow of the sign with his gaze to a long hallway and decided to venture into it.There must be a way out and he was determined to find it, to hell with the gut feeling and the constant nightmares that took him to this cursed place.

Stains of an unknown substance, trash and several scratch marks filled the corridor, he tried to not think much about it, he must not think about it, even if the floor seemed like it was going to fall down as he passed through.

He finally got to his destination, a long room unfolded before his eyes and the same stains and marks of the hallway seemed to duplicate themselves like they were a decorative pattern to the whole hospital, the curtains were ripped and stained just like the walls and the beds were all broken and tossed around, he counted them to distract himself from the scene taken from a horror video game, there were five on each side of the room. And the few windows in the room were barred as well.

He sulked a bit after realizing there was no way out, then he decided to check the shelves and the drawers on the room in search of something that could be useful for him in his unwilling stay in the abandoned building. He found a key to which he got excited about, thinking it could be the one to open the front door, however to his dismay it had written "Block A Room" on it, his mind told him that the key would be important in the near future so he put it in one of his pants' pockets and continued checking, later he found bandages which he put in his backpack, and a needle full of yet another unknown substance which he guessed it was some kind of old medicine or sedative, he kept analyzing it until the sounds of sobs behind him and a scorching cold that flooded the room put him in a state of alert.

He arranged his handle on the needle, wielding it like a knife and he turned around.

In the middle of the room stood a person. Hardening his hold on the syringe, Shiro slowly walked closer. The person, a woman, wore an old and shattered nurse uniform, her face was hidden on her hands and her cries filled all the place, ringing insatiably in his ears.

Suddenly she lifted up her head and looked directly into Shiro’s eyes. Her expression was one of desolation and dread, her face was wet with tears and her dull eyes pierced through his like trying to strip his soul. Shiro was paralyzed, a gasp escaped his lips.

The woman eyed the syringe “You came here to kill me?” She said, sadness on her tone.

Shiro almost dropped the object to the floor when the woman spoke, he felt as if his heart sank into his chest and a knot formed inside his stomach. All the alarms in his head went off and all that remained was a sense of melancholy.

“No, I won’t hurt you” he finally answered and left his only mean of defense on the floor.

“Why?” There was a glimpse of surprise on her face but immediately was replaced by gloom “I’m a monster…”

Moving his head, Shiro disagreed, he tried to get closer to the nurse but he recoiled when anger invaded the woman’s face.

“I’m a monster! Just like everyone who worked here!” Her face distorted and her tears became blood, something on the back of his head was telling Shiro to run but instead he stayed in the room and listened to what the woman had to say “We stole their lives and imprisoned them, we told them they were broken!”

_You are broken._

Shiro felt his heartbeat quicken, It became difficult to breath and his head began to hurt but he focused on the woman instead, his fear shouldn’t take control over his body, not now.

“We promised we fix them, we were going to save them… but we murder them instead!” Then she wrapped her arms around herself and her voice lost strength, she walked to one of the beds and when she looked at it her face became soft “I-I couldn’t save her… When she arrived here, she had a light on her eyes but I let it fade…”

Shiro couldn’t stay silent much longer.

“What happened to her?” he asked.

The nurse kept her gaze fixed to the bed “She wanted to leave… But she couldn’t. I was the only one with whom she talked with, I knew how much she wanted to leave and I didn’t let her, instead I watch her cry, I watch her scream, I watch her die little by little every day. Until her last breath… I remember, she was crying from the pain and I told her I was sorry, I was sorry for not let her go… And she suddenly looked at me tenderly, with a smile on her face and told me it wasn’t my fault, and thanked me for being by her side until it was her time to leave…” The woman broke and she let herself fall over the bed.

Shiro ran to her side and carefully helped the nurse to stand up.

He didn’t know what to do, what to say to comfort her.

Then he found the words.

“She was happy at the end, she was happy because she was able to leave finally. That’s why she smiled at you, because she had someone who cared about her at her side before she left this place.”

The woman lifted her gaze from the bed to fixtated it on Shiro.

"You know? When she was leaving this world I swear I glimpsed the light on her eyes again."

"That's because her light never faded" He continued "It was hidden but not gone, and it revived again when it was the time for her to leave."

The woman started crying again and this time, her tears were clear like crystal. The room wasn’t cold anymore.

"Yes, I think you're right." She muttered with a smile. She looked at Shiro with endearment, lifted a hand to his face and stroked his cheek, Shiro didn't felt the touch but he felt warmer inside.

"Thank you" She continued "Your kind words have mean a lot to me" Then her eyes become sad again "You have that light in your eyes too... Please don't let Lockharst to fade it away"

With that last words the nurse disappeared and Shiro was alone in the room again.

He stood there for a moment and then grabbed the neddle from the floor and put in a secured pocket in his backpack.

He stared at the bed the nurse kept looking at and clung to what was left of warmth before stepping again on the frigid hallways of the hospital.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed read it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


End file.
